


18 years

by brokenEisenglas



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Family Fluff, Gen, Reunion, Sam Wilson Feels, season 4 compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 03:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenEisenglas/pseuds/brokenEisenglas
Summary: Knocking on the door shouldn’t be this hard. Just because it’s been nearly eighteen years doesn’t mean she won’t recognize him, won’t still love him. But, not only doesn’t he look the same, he isn’t the same young man from weeks before.Missing scene/additional scene: Sam visits his mom sometime between Season 4’s “The Once and Future Kang” and “Beyond”





	18 years

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, readers! :D
> 
> I don't normally do gen fics, but this idea popped-up and I thought, "heck, why not share!" So, here is a short semi-angsty Wilson family ficlet! I absolutely love the background role Darlene plays and Sam deserves more love.
> 
> No warnings besides spoilers for Season 4.

His body hurts; he’s got bruises the size of Canada wrapped around his ribs, and his leg feels like it’s going to collapse any second. Nevermind the myriad of old wounds improperly attended to and healed from years of fighting Kang and his forces and that are now acting up as his body recalibrates from the dimensional and time travelling. He’s sore, and his back hurts.

The hanger is busy. Medical personnel run back and forth between Avengers, servicing the most immediately in danger and cataloguing who should be next. A young kid— _ he’s probably technically older than you, Falcon _ —

They’ve barely had a break since their interdimensional and time traveling “adventures,” and for Sam, it’s been years since he’s had the chance to see her. Thor’s dad, how he misses his mom.

“I need just a few hours. That’s it.”

“Sam—“

“Come on, Marvel. I just spent nearly twenty years in a world fighting on my own. I’ve been without all of you, and mom,” Sam chokes on a near sob, “I need to see my mom. I need to know…”

The world is falling apart, and the villains can’t seem to give them a break, but he  _ needs _ to see her.

Carol looks at him, turns to Cap and then sighs.

“Go, Sam,” Steve’s voice rumbles low and reassuring. “We understand.”

“Call if you need a pick-up,” Clint shouts from somewhere.

Sam flies.

 

Knocking on the door shouldn’t be this hard. Just because it’s been nearly eighteen years doesn’t mean she won’t recognize him, won’t still love him. But, not only doesn’t he look the same, he  _ isn’t _ the same young man from weeks before.

It’s only been a few weeks for her.

The door creaks open.

“I had wondered when you were going to- ” she stops. Looks him over.

Sam smiles sheepishly, “Hey, mom.”

Tears start to fall down her face. “Oh, sweetie,” she coos, “I think you should come inside.”

 

He doesn’t know where to start.  So, they sit in silence for a while. She putters in the kitchen, putting dishes up, decorating plates and preparing snacks.

“When did you eat last?” She asks.

He tries to remember. They’d been running almost nonstop since he’d been rescued, and there had been no time to stop and eat. He knows he should eat, but with all the stress, the thought of food turns his stomach. “I’m not hungry.”

She glares at him, holding up and uncovering a plate of fresh warm scones. Their fragrance fills the room and his stomach grumbles and his face heats.

“I beg to disagree.”

So, she makes him food. Scones to wet his appetite, then pasta and sides from what he would guess was the book club luncheon a day or two ago.

She updates him on the past few weeks. Newscasts of villains, climate change, emerging Stark technologies (that he already knows about and had been beta testing before), as well as friends and family. Who’s been travelling, where others are planning to go. His older sister and her plan to propose to her girlfriend, “You’ve made it just in time! I think she’d love for you to be there.”

He tries not to think about how awkward that meeting will be.

But, he lets her chatter on. He listens without listening, and exhaustion pulls at him. He doesn’t notice when she’s stopped.

“Samuel Thomas Wilson,” he jolts in his seat, back straight and mind immediately sharp.

“Yes, ma’am.” His heart cools from its racing. She’s looking at him with an eyebrow raised and a half-cocked smile, and he shakes his head and laughs.

“Even after all these years, you still act like I’ve got a whipping ready for you.”

“It’s ingrained.”

“I haven’t whipped you, not once.”

“Then, chock it up to a… prevention of a possibility.”

He loves listening to her laugh, had missed it. It's loud, and boisterous. It rings and rumbles, and he joins in.

“So, tell me, sweetheart.” When they've calmed, she sits in a seat beside him at the kitchen island, taking his hand in hers. “Time hasn’t treated you fairly.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

She pats his hand, “You’re right.”

He puffs out a breath of air, tears stinging his eyes, “Where do I begin?”

“How about from the start?” She suggests. “I have missed you, Samuel.”

With eyes clouded by unshed tears, he sighs and smiles, “I’ve missed you, too, Mom.” He pulls her close, embracing her with this new body and new face, and when she wraps her own arms around him, he realizes he had nothing to worry about. “I love you, so much.”

“Welcome home, Sammy.”


End file.
